Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection, launched in 1968, is the official bi-monthly publication of the Taiwan Society of Microbiology, the Chinese Society of Immunology, the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan and the Taiwan Society of Parasitology.

The journal is committed to disseminating information on the latest trends and advances in microbiology, immunology, infectious diseases and parasitology. Articles on clinical or laboratory investigations of relevance to microbiology, immunology, infectious diseases, parasitology and other related fields that are of interest to the medical profession are eligible for consideration. Article types considered include perspectives, review articles, original articles, brief reports and correspondence.

The Editorial Board of the Journal comprises a dedicated team of local and international experts in the field of microbiology, immunology, infectious diseases and parasitology. All members of the Editorial Board actively guide and set the direction of the journal. With the aim of promoting effective and accurate scientific information, an expert panel of referees constitutes the backbone of the peer-review process in evaluating the quality and content of manuscripts submitted for publication.

The Editorial Board requires authors to be in compliance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (URMs); current URMs are available at http://www.icmje.org.

Types of article1. PerspectivesThese are comments on recent news or groundbreaking work and should provide a short review of the current state of research and explain the importance of the new findings. Perspectives on papers previously published in the JMII should add a different viewpoint to the research and should not merely be a repetitive summary of the original paper. Although many of the Perspectives published in the Journal are normally invited, unsolicited Perspectives are welcome and will be given due consideration. As these are meant to express a personal commentary, with rare exceptions, Perspectives should have no more than 3 authors.

2. Review ArticlesThese should aim to provide the reader with a balanced overview of an important and topical subject in the field, and should be systematic and critical assessments of literature and data sources. They should cover aspects of a topic in which scientific consensus exists as well as aspects that remain controversial and are the subject of ongoing scientific research. All articles and data sources reviewed should include information about the specific type of study or analysis, population, intervention, exposure, and tests or outcomes. All articles or data sources should be selected systematically for inclusion in the review and critically evaluated. We welcome viewpoints that present the opinions of the authors rather than new experimental data or literature reviews.

Format guide:

• Word limit: 3500 words (excluding the abstract and references).• References: 50 or less.• Abstract: Up to 250 words, unstructured.• Tables/Figures: Data in the text should not be repeated extensively in tables or figures.

3. Original ArticlesThese articles typically include randomized trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic tests, laboratory and animal studies, cohort studies, cost-effectiveness analyses, case-control studies, and surveys with high response rates, which represent new and significant contributions to the field.Section headings should be: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conflicts of Interest Statement (if any), Acknowledgments (if any) and References.The Introduction should provide a brief background to the subject of the paper, explain the importance of the study, and state a precise study question or purpose.The Methods section should describe the study design and methods (including the study setting and dates, patients/participants with inclusion and exclusion criteria, or data sources and how these were selected for the study, patient samples or animal specimens used, explain the laboratory methods followed), and state the statistical procedures employed in the research.The Results section should comprise the study results presented in a logical sequence, supplemented by tables and/or figures. Take care that the text does not repeatdata that are presented in tables and/or figures. Only emphasize and summarize the essential features of any interventions, the main outcome measures, and the main results.The Discussion section should be used to emphasize the new and important aspects of the study, placing the results in context with published literature, the implicationsof the findings, and the conclusions that follow from the study results.

Format guide:

• Word limit: 3000 words (excluding the abstract and references).• References: 40 or less.• Abstract: Up to 250 words, structured.• Tables/Figures: Data in the text should not be repeated extensively in tables or figures.4. Brief ReportsBrief reports should present unusual aspects of common problems or novel perspectives upon, or solutions to, clinically relevant issues.

5. CorrespondenceCorrespondences include short case reports, letter to Editor, and comments that respond to a recently published article in JMII or address an issue of interest to JMII readers. Replies will be published in the same issue as the letter, and are invited at the discretion of the Editor.

Articles should be written in English (using American English spelling) and meet the following basic criteria: the material is original, the information is important, the writing is clear and concise, the study methods are appropriate, the data are valid, and the conclusions are reasonable and supported by the data.

Manuscript Submission

Online submissionAuthors may submit manuscripts to EES at http://ees.elsevier.com/jmii/.If assistance is needed, the Editorial Office can be contacted for any help necessary.

Important Information

The corresponding author will be notified by the editorial office when the manuscript is accepted and sent to the Publisher. The corresponding author will receive a PDF proof by e-mail from the Publisher within the next 2 months. JMII reserves the right to rescind our provisional decision of acceptance if no response is received from the author by the dategiven by the Publisher.

Articles submitted should be in Microsoft Word document format and prepared in the simplest form possible. We will add in the correct font, font size, margins and so on according to the journal's style.

You may use automatic page numbering, but do NOT use other kinds of automatic formatting such as footnotes, endnotes, headers and footers.

Put text, references, and table/figure legends in one file.

Figures must be submitted as separate picture files, at the correct resolution of a minimum of 600 dpi. The files should be named according to the figure number and format, e.g. "Fig1.tif", "Fig2.jpg".

Please ensure that the following documents are included (refer also to the checklist that follows these author instructions):(1) A cover letter. It must include your name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address (both of the first author and corresponding author), and state that the manuscript has never been submitted, in whole or in part, to other journals. Your signature and those of ALL your coauthors must be included.(2) An authorship and conflicts of interest statement. Each author's contribution to the manuscript should be listed. Any and all potential and actual conflicts of interest should also be listed (see relevant section below for more information). Please use the JMII Authorship and Conflicts of Interest Statement form that follows these author instructions and that is also provided on the Journal's website at http://www.e-jmii.com. The corresponding author must sign on behalf of all the listed authors in the manuscript.(3) A copyright transfer agreement. In the event that your manuscript is accepted for publication in the JMII, you are required to transfer all copyright ownership in and relating to the work to the Taiwan Society of Microbiology. Please use the JMII Copyright Transfer Agreement form that follows these author instructions and that is also provided on the Journal's website at http://www.e-jmii.com.The corresponding author must sign on behalf of all the listed authors in the manuscript.(4) An ethics statement. Articles covering the use of human or animal samples in research, or human or animal experiments must be accompanied by a letter of approval from the relevant review committee or authorities (see relevant section below).(5) Articles where human subjects can be identified in descriptions, photographs or pedigrees must be accompanied by a signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) the descriptions, photographs and pedigrees from each subject who can be identified (see relevant section below).(6) Copyright permission. If you have reproduced or adapted material from other copyrighted sources, the letter(s) of permission from the copyright holder(s) to reproduce or adapt the copyrighted sources must be supplied. Otherwise, such material must be removed from your manuscript.

All animal experiments should comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and should be carried out in accordance with the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 and associated guidelines, EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, or the National Institutes of Health guide for the care and use of Laboratory animals (NIH Publications No. 8023, revised 1978) and the authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such guidelines have been followed.

Declaration of interest

All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. More information.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual's objectivity is potentially compromised by a desire for financial gain, prominence, professional advancement or a successful outcome. JMII Editors strive to ensure that what is published in the Journal is as balanced, objective and evidence-based as possible. Since it can be difficult to distinguish between an actual conflict of interest and a perceived conflict of interest, the Journal requires authors to disclose all and any potential conflicts of interest.

Please ensure that any conflicts of interest and sources of funding are fully declared on page 2 of the JMII Authorship and Conflicts of Interest Statement form.

Submission declaration

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' section of our ethics policy for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Reporting clinical trialsRandomized controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines. At manuscript submission, authors must provide the CONSORT checklist accompanied by a flow diagram that illustrates the progress of patients through the trial, including recruitment, enrollment, randomization, withdrawal and completion, and a detailed description of the randomization procedure. The CONSORT checklist and template flow diagram are available online.

Registration of clinical trialsRegistration in a public trials registry is a condition for publication of clinical trials in this journal in accordance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. A clinical trial is defined as any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects of health outcomes. Health-related interventions include any intervention used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome (for example drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, dietary interventions, and process-of-care changes). Health outcomes include any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events. Purely observational studies (those in which the assignment of the medical intervention is not at the discretion of the investigator) will not require registration.

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.

Author rightsAs an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.The JMII is the official peer-reviewed publication of the Taiwan Society of Microbiology. Manuscripts published in the JMII become the permanent property of the Taiwan Society of Microbiology. All articles published in the Journal are protected by copyright, which covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, as well as translation rights. No JMII article, in part or whole, may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Taiwan Society of Microbiology.

Open Access

This is a subsidized open access journal where The Taiwan Society of Microbiology pays for the publishing costs incurred by the journal. Authors are not charged Article Processing Charges. All articles will be available Open Access on ScienceDirect. Permitted (re)use is that outlined by the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which states that for non-commercial purposes, others may distribute and copy the article, and include in a collective work (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter or modify the article.

Elsevier supports responsible sharingFind out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)For non-commercial purposes, lets others distribute and copy the article, and to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter or modify the article.

Green open accessAuthors can share their research in a variety of different ways and Elsevier has a number of green open access options available. We recommend authors see our green open access page for further information. Authors can also self-archive their manuscripts immediately and enable public access from their institution's repository after an embargo period. This is the version that has been accepted for publication and which typically includes author-incorporated changes suggested during submission, peer review and in editor-author communications. Embargo period: For subscription articles, an appropriate amount of time is needed for journals to deliver value to subscribing customers before an article becomes freely available to the public. This is the embargo period and it begins from the date the article is formally published online in its final and fully citable form. Find out more.This journal has an embargo period of 0 months.

Elsevier Publishing CampusThe Elsevier Publishing Campus (www.publishingcampus.com) is an online platform offering free lectures, interactive training and professional advice to support you in publishing your research. The College of Skills training offers modules on how to prepare, write and structure your article and explains how editors will look at your paper when it is submitted for publication. Use these resources, and more, to ensure that your submission will be the best that you can make it.

Language (usage and editing services)Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's WebShop.

Text should be typed double-spaced on one side of white A4 (297 × 210 mm) paper, with outer margins of 2.5 cm. A manuscript should include a title page, abstract, text, conflicts of interest statement (if any), acknowledgments (if any), references, and figures and tables as appropriate. Each section of the manuscript should begin on a new page. Pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the title page.

Title Page

The title page should contain the following information (in order, from the top to bottom of the page):

category of paper

article title

names (spelled out in full) of all authors*, and the institutions with which they are affiliated

*The name of each author should be written with the family name last, e.g. Jing-Long Huang. Authorship is restricted only to direct participants who have contributed significantly to the work.

Peer review

This journal operates a single blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. More information on types of peer review.The Editorial and Peer Review Process

As a general rule, the receipt of a manuscript will be acknowledged within 2 weeks of submission, and authors will be provided with a manuscript reference number for future correspondence. If such an acknowledgment is not received in a reasonable period of time, the author should contact the Editorial Office.

Manuscripts are reviewed by the Editorial Office to ensure that the submission contains all parts. The Editorial Office will not accept a submission if the author has not supplied all parts of the manuscript as outlined in this document.

Manuscripts are then forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief, who makes an initial assessment of it. If the manuscript does not appear to be of sufficient merit or is not appropriate for the Journal, then the manuscript will be rejected without review. Rejected manuscripts will not be returned to authors unless requested.

Manuscripts that appear meritorious and appropriate for the Journal are reviewed by at least two Editorial Board members or expert consultants assigned by the Editor-in-Chief. Authors will usually be notified within 10 weeks of whether the submitted article is accepted for publication, rejected, or subject to revision before acceptance. However, do note that delays are sometimes unavoidable.

Article structureMain Text

The text for Original Articles should be organized in sections as follows: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Sections for Case Reports are: Introduction, Case Report, and Discussion. Each section should begin on a new page.

Abbreviation

Where a term/definition will be continually referred to, it must be written in full when it first appears in the text, followed by the subsequent abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter, the abbreviation may be used. An abbreviation should not be first defined in any section heading; if an abbreviation has previously been defined in the text, then the abbreviation may be used in a subsequent section heading. Restrict the number of abbreviations to those that are absolutely necessary and ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Numbers

Numbers that begin a sentence or those that are less than 10 should be spelled out using letters. Centuries and decades should be spelled out, e.g., the Eighties or nineteenth century . Laboratory parameters, time, temperature, length, area, mass, and volume should be expressed using digits.

Units

Système International (SI) units must be used, with the exception of blood pressure values which are to be reported in mmHg. Please use the metric system for the expression of length, area, mass, and volume. Temperatures are to be given in degrees Celsius.

Names of Drugs, Devices and Other Products

Use the Recommended International Non-proprietary Name (rINN) for medicinal substances, unless the specific trade name of a drug is directly relevant to the discussion. Generic drug names should appear in lowercase letters in the text. If a specific proprietary drug needs to be identified, the brand name may appear only once in the manuscript in parentheses following the generic name the first time the drug is mentioned in the text.

For devices and other products, the specific brand or trade name, the manufacturer and their location (city, state, country) should be provided the first time the device or product is mentioned in the text, for example, KIBM SPSS Statistics 21.0 was used (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Thereafter, the generic term (if appropriate) should be used.

Statistical analysis is essential for all research papers except Case Reports. Use correct nomenclature for statistical methods (e.g., two sample t test, not unpaired t test). Descriptive statistics should follow the scales used in data description. Inferential statistics are important for interpreting results and should be described in detail. All p values should be presented to the third decimal place for accuracy. The smallest p value that should be expressed is p > 0.99.Personal communications and unpublished data

These sources cannot be included in the references list but may be described in the text. The author(s) must give the full name and highest academic degree of the person, the date of the communication, and indicate whether it was in oral or written (letter, fax, e-mail) form. A signed statement of permission should be included from each person identified as a source of information in a personal communication or as a source for unpublished data.

Abstracts and Key Words

Abstracts should be no more than 250 words in length. Abstracts for Original Articles should be structured, with the section headings: Background/Purpose(s), Methods, Results, Conclusion. Abstracts for Case Reports are unstructured, but should include the significance and purpose of the case presentation, the diagnostic methods of the case, the key data, and brief comments and suggestions with regard to the case. For all article categories, 3-5 relevant key words should also be provided in alphabetical order.

Acknowledgments

After the Conflicts of Interest Statement and/or Funding/Support Statement, general acknowledgments for consultations and statistical analyses should be listed concisely, including the names of the individuals who were directly involved. Consent should be obtained from those individuals before their names are listed in this section. Those acknowledged should not include secretarial, clerical or technical staff whose participation was limited to the performance of their normal duties.

All financial and material support for the research and work from internal or external agencies, including commercial companies, should be clearly and completely identified. Ensure that any conflicts of interest are explicitly declared.

Figures

The number of figures should be restricted to the minimum necessary to support the textual material. They should have an informative figure legend and be numbered in the order of their citation in the text. All symbols and abbreviations should be defined in the legend. Items requiring explanatory footnotes should follow the same style as that described for tables.Unless you have written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the personal details (such as their name and date of birth) of the patient must be removed. If their face is shown, use a black bar to cover their eyes so that they cannot be identified (for further information, see www.elsevier.com/patientphotographs).All lettering should be done professionally and should be in proportion to the drawing, graph or photograph. Photomicrographs must include an internal scale marker, and the legend should state the type of specimen, original magnification and stain.

Figures must be submitted as separate picture files (ex. TIF, JPG, etc.) at the correct resolution of a minimum of 600 dpi. The files should be named according to the figure number and format, e.g., "Fig1.tif ", "Fig2.jpg".

Tables

Tables should supplement, not duplicate, the text. They should have a concise table heading, be self-explanatory, and numbered consecutively in the order of their citation in the text. Information requiring explanatory footnotes should be denoted using superscripted lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.), with the footnotes arranged alphabetically by the superscripts. Asterisks (*, **) are used only to indicate the probability level of tests of significance. Abbreviations used in the table must be defined and placed after the footnotes. If you include a block of data or table from another source, whether published or unpublished, you must acknowledge the original source.

References

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct in-text citation.

In the main text, tables, figure legends

References should be identified using superscripted numbers, and numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text and placed after punctuation.

References cited in tables or figure legends should be included in sequence at the point where the table or figure is first mentioned in the main text.

Do not cite uncompleted work or work that has not yet been accepted for publication (i.e., "unpublished observation", "personal communication") as references.

Do not cite abstracts unless they are the only available reference to an important concept.

In the references list

References should be limited to those cited in the text and listed in numerical order, NOT alphabetical order.

References should include, in order, author names, article title, journal name, year, volume and inclusive page numbers. The last names and initials of all the authors up to 6 should be included, but when authors number 7 or more, list the first 6 authors only followed by "et al".

Abbreviations for journal names should conform to those used in MEDLINE.

If citing a website, provide the author information, article title, website address and the date you accessed the information.

Reference to an article that is in press must state the journal name and, if possible, the year and volume.

Examples of the most common reference types are provided below. (Please pay particular attention to the formatting, word capitalization, spacing and style.)

Since it is difficult to distinguish between an actual conflict of interest and a perceived conflict of interest, the JMII requires authors to disclose all and any potential conflicts of interest and let readers judge for themselves. Therefore, please ensure that you provide information about any potential financial and non-financial conflicts of interest in a concise paragraph after the main text.All financial and material support for the research, work, writing and editorial assistance from internal or external agencies, including commercial companies, should be clearly and completely identified in a Funding/Support Statement.Users of Mendeley Desktop can easily install the reference style for this journal by clicking the following link:http://open.mendeley.com/use-citation-style/journal-of-microbiology-immunology-and-infectionWhen preparing your manuscript, you will then be able to select this style using the Mendeley plug-ins for Microsoft Word or LibreOffice.

Publication Charges

Starting from 2017, the authors are required to pay a publication fee of USD$1,000 when submitting to Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection. Upon acceptance the author will be asked to pay the publication fee. Upon receipt of the payment, the article will then be sent for production.

Payment can be made by any of the following methods:

Credit card payment can be made online using a secure payment form.

Purchase order, or institutional invoice (payment is due within 30 days).

Prompt payment is advised, as the article will not be published until payment is received.

Preparation for Publication

Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, the authors should submit the final version of their manuscript through Elsevier's online submission system-EES.

Accepted manuscripts are copyedited according to the journal's style and the galley proofs in the form of a PDF file are e-mailed by the Publisher to the corresponding author for final approval. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made by the copy editor.

Please note that the proof corrections are to be returned within 3 days of receipt of the proof. A reminder letter will be sent on the 4th day. If the proof corrections are not returned by the 5th day, then the article will be processed further without any notification.

Online proof correction

Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, you can also comment on figures/tables and answer questions from the Copy Editor. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.If preferred, you can still choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF.We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.